That one time I ran into another car

Starting a blog was one of a sparse handful of productive things I did today. Smashing the light housing or whatever gearhead thing it’s called on my car driving home was measurably more destructive.

Add to the file of idiot things people in DC don’t know how to do: drive in the remnants of a tropical storm at night while probably drunk. To be clear, the crash was not my fault. I wasn’t speeding (shocker, cos I normally speed in a felony kind of way), and I did notice that this lady was pulling out of her street parking spot on Connecticut Ave. in enough time to stop (on a dry road and with a car that isn’t 14 years old…) had I actually wanted to stop and let her in. But alas, crunch.

(Don’t mind the preexisting condition of the fender… that was a consequence of parking in an alley in Georgetown for 5 years)

Now here’s the miracle part: After honking profusely to get her to stop and write me a check for the damage, we exited our cars to exchange insurance information that I by a stroke of luck put in my glove box just last week. And I said, “You cut me off. You totally cut me off, and now I have damage.” And she admitted she was wrong and offered to pay for the broken light! This display of human sensibility kind of defeats the purpose of writing a blog to say the things I should have said were I a more confrontational person. In the extreme likelihood that I’ll wind up lacking the followthrough to keep writing this blog, it’s good to know that in situations that call for it, speaking up can be a boon.